


Soon

by DiamondScribe (DiamondSuits)



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Character Study, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 04:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6641524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiamondSuits/pseuds/DiamondScribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A protective Anders reflects on just how far he'd go to keep Hawke safe. Just a quick little vignette that takes place before Act 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soon

After Anders escaped, he thought that he had known how to appreciate the little things. The feeling of rain against skin, the taste of air before the storm, the feeling of running, lungs burning, legs straining, eyes streaming as his voice burst out in laughter. He had escaped for an entire month that time, and that taste of freedom, so sweet after shackles and whips, was the only thing that had kept him going during a year of hell.

Even now, with the roar of darkspawn in his dreams and the weight of his duties on his shoulders, he still found it in himself to enjoy a friendly touch or a bit of laughter.

But this.

This wasn’t like anything that he had expected.

Hawke was warm against him (warm like he always was, warm like the smiles or the look in his eyes when he looked at Anders), his chest slowly rising and falling as he slumbered. His arm was draped over his skinny companion, the once oppressive feeling of being weighted down now comforting, soothing. Anders felt like he could watch him for hours like this. After Leandra, after the Arishok, the lines around Hawke’s eyes deepened into something more fitting for a man twice his age. He’d seen too much. They’d all seen too much.

As if he could protect him, Anders furrowed closer, dragged long fingers through soft, dark hair. He didn’t know if the fierce burst of protectiveness came from himself or from Justice, but really, did it matter? Their thoughts had become one so long ago, and, love it or hate it, Anders knew that there was nothing he could do about the chaos that often overtook his mind. At least Hawke was something they could agree on, despite the spirit’s earlier misgivings.

Hawke shifted slightly under the touch, mumbled, turned enough to bury his face into Anders’ hair and let sleep overtake him all over again. Content to lay there, Anders rested his head against that broad chest and closed his eyes. Hawke’s heartbeat was so loud when he was this close. Though it was steady and strong, listening to it provoked unfortunate memories of watching him suspended on the Arishok’s blade, of rushing to his side after the battle and feel his pulse, thready and faint, under his fingertips.

_We would drown the city in blood for him._

_We would raze any that stand in our way._

_We need him._

Anders was unsure just whose thoughts they were, but he relished the rare moment of agreement as he draped his arm over Hawke. He never would have believed that he’d find love, much less deserve it (though the first part was far easier to believe than the second), but here he was in the arms of a man who loved him. Who _loved_ him. That in itself seemed so unbelievable, that he was privy to words murmured in the darkness and fingers entwined with his own.

It was difficult to imagine what might’ve happened to Hawke had he been in the Circle. Anders had worried about him in the beginning, when Hawke was first a nobody, then a man with a target on his back, but even as the Champion it was doubtful that he would be immune to the Templars for much longer. The nightmares of a sun shaped brand on his lover’s forehead were happening more and more frequently as Meredith tightened the collars of every mage in Kirkwall.

The injustice had always been intolerable (well, it’d been intolerable when Justice gave him the drive to act on such things, at least), but now that Anders had someone to care about, to protect, the faulty system became that much more unbearable. It couldn’t be allowed to last. The images of fire and brimstone, of an event so catastrophic that it tore the Chantry to its Maker damned knees were once so abhorrent, but as Hawke opened one sleepy eye and smiled at him with enough light to rival the Golden City itself, Anders realized he would do anything to protect him.

Even if it meant tearing the world apart.

“Something on your mind?” Hawke murmured, his voice thick and slow as he pulled his lover close to pepper kisses along his furrowed brow. The smile that curved Anders’ lips wasn’t quite sincere, but as he closed his eyes, he shoved his worries back into the deepest recesses of his mind.

“Only how loudly you snore. I think the Mabari is quieter than you.”

That provoked the laugh that Anders was looking for as Hawke pulled him impossibly closer, hand drifting down silvery stripes of scar tissue before settling on his hips. It didn’t matter that Anders knew what was coming, not when Hawke cupped his cheek in one calloused hand and tilted his head up for a kiss. The eventuality didn’t matter now. It would, soon, but for now, he needed the comfort like a plant drawn to light. For now, he could be selfish. Just for now.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at like 4am in a rush, so this is completely pure, un-beta'd vent fic. Good fun :p 
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> [Come hang with me on my writing tumblr if you have prompts, comments, or just want to chat!](diamondscribe.tumblr.com)


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